It is common in merchandising to use hanger fixtures or shelf extenders for presenting product literature, containers or other display racks to the purchaser. Customarily, such extenders or hanger fixtures are attached to fixed shelves, price channels, or other supports and receive the literature, containers or display racks thereon. Some of the extenders are small, plastic extruded clips having members which slidably fit into horizontally extending price channels secured onto display shelves or other supports. Price items, advertisements or lightweight displays which would not force the clip away from the price channel are then fitted by plastic connectors, hooks or other means onto the clip for display thereon.
Other shelf extenders and hanger fixtures are supported by a shelf or other supporting surface to give added stability and provide a stronger support for larger, heavier objects and display racks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,078 to Fortunato discloses a combination shelf extender and display container having a clamp for securing the extender to the shelf. The extender's frontal plate includes outwardly turned receiving members which cooperate with formed grooves in the back wall of a display container for securing the container wall to the extender. Such clamp extenders will retain larger and heavier objects as compared to the smaller clips prevalent in merchandising. However, the use of clamps is burdensome.
Other similar large extenders and hanger fixtures do not incorporate a clamp. However, many of these extenders and hanger fixtures not having clamps have poor retainability to a shelf or have a structure mandating complex wall designs to ensure proper stability of a supported display rack or container. In addition, complex hanger fixtures are difficult to readily interconnect containers or display racks thereto. Also, many extenders and hanger fixtures extend substantially beyond the shelf upon which they are affixed. Large vertically oriented containers or display racks which are retained thereon often will suspend and swing freely relative to the extender or hanger fixture without adequate support from the shelves or other vertical wall faces adjacent the display rack backside.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a display rack and a hanger fixture for supporting the display rack, and where the hanger fixture is structurally simple and which can be readily secured to a supporting surface.
It is another object of this invention to provide a hanger fixture which can be readily affixed to a paperboard display rack.
It is another object of this invention to provide a hanger fixture for supporting a display rack and which is readily received within a slot formed on the upright rear wall of the display rack.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a hanger fixture for supporting a display rack where movement of the display rack relative to the hanger fixture is minimized.